Jacob Rodriguez has just been promoted to BJJ brown belt by his older brother and fellow elite no gi competitor Nicky Rodriguez. The promotion has come off the back of Rodriguez having the best performance of his young career to date, as he finished ADCC 2024 with a silver medal in the under 88kg division. Not only was his run of 3 wins over some of the best grapplers in the world an impressive feat in itself, but his final match was a moment to remember. He gave the reigning champion Giancarlo Bodoni a very tough match and although he didn’t win, it was a solid performance.
Rodriguez followed in the footsteps of his older brother Nicky, with both of them moving to no gi grappling after first spending their years of their youth honing their skills on the wrestling mats. Their careers have actually followed a very similar progression path as well in fact, as Jacob Rodriguez was given his blue belt just as quickly as his brother. Although he received the first colored belt after around 7 months of training, it was clearly well-deserved as he was able to win ADCC Trials less than a year later. Rodriguez had already beaten some of the best grapplers in North America with less than two years of training, so it was clear that he was going to be one to watch at ADCC 2022 and beyond.
In the years since then, Rodriguez has established himself as one of the most entertaining young talents in no gi grappling and he’s registered a number of impressive wins. ADCC 2024 was the moment that his hard work finally paid off though, as the silver medal he won at 88kg made him one of the most successful B-Team Jiu-Jitsu competitors. He has now reached the same height as both his brother and one of the team’s other founders, Craig Jones. There are undoubtedly plenty more great things on the horizon for Jacob Rodriguez and now he’ll be stepping on the mats as a BJJ brown belt when he works towards them.
Jacob Rodriguez announced the news that he had received his brown belt in BJJ from his brother Nicky in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
